Delta CEO’s optimistic view is Covid-19 will be a ‘two-year journey’

Delta is expecting a “two-year journey” before its operation resembles its pre-pandemic structure, CEO Ed Bastian said Tuesday, though to get there, the airline may need to rely less on business customers than before. “I don’t think it is a five-year journey,” Bastian said. “I do think a portion of business travel is going to be lost for good because of video tools we have all been forced to learn how to use. That’s OK. That is travel that isn’t resilient. That isn’t sustainable.” Like many US airlines, Delta has shrunk, retiring and temporarily parking airplanes, asking employees to leave, and slashing its flight schedule. Delta is operating about half its originally planned domestic schedule, Bastian said, and carrying 30-35% of its normal passenger volume. International demand is worse, because many countries have closed borders to Americans. This may remain the status quo for the foreseeable future, Bastian said, though airlines could further cut schedules if the US government does not extend state aid past Oct. 1, when it is slated to run out. Bastian said he supports more government assistance. Long term, he said, the US airline industry will be fine. Over the past decade, consumers showed a near insatiable desire to travel, and airlines added aircraft and routes to accommodate them. Bastian said he expects those customers to return — with gusto – when they believe it safe. Longer term, Bastian said he’s not know when business travel will fully (or near fully) return. But he suggested it may have more to do as much with how governments attack the virus than anything else. “This is based on the science,” he said. “This is based on our ability as a society and as the world to contain the virus. The better job we do, the more opportunity there will be for people to start to restore some sort of normal activity back into their daily lives, including travel.”<br/>